First camera advice

[astrodroid]

Hi folks, so I recently bought a SW130P Starquest EQ2, RA Motor to try out astronomy and am already hooked. I have a Samsung Galaxy S9 phone and adapter to mount on the eyepiece and have taken some nice moonshots. Now want to do more planetary. So I'm looking into a camera purchase as the phone is good, but clunky to use.

If I had around £80-100 or so to spend, what do you recommend? I have looked at Datyson T7C with Aptina AR0130CS sensor, same as ZWO ASI120MC.

Also the Svbony SV305 with IMX290 same as ZWO ASI290.

I'm thinking I might like to get more into AP so starting out with a lower end camera that I can use as a guide cam later would be good.

What do people think of the mentioned cams, worth it or better of waiting for a used ZWO or other known brand to turn up on Ebay or ABS?

Thanks

[Gordon]

I don't suggest a 'color' camera for a guider so if the plan is to use it for that it's probably not going to work as you would like.

I started out with a inexpensive camera (Meade LPI) which is discontinued now but it worked for lunar. I then stepped up to the Meade DSI ii (again discontinued) (Am I showing how long I've been doing this!!). And again it worked great for what I wanted. Looking back I don't have any regrets but as time goes on in AP so does spending money. I currently use a Orion StarShoot guide camera and have for a number of years It's still working great!

I also have a ZWO ASI120MC that I use for planetary work and it does work well.

[astrodroid]

Good advice, thanks

[astrodroid]

Another thought on this, given the price range, could it be worth buying a used Canon 500d or 1100d for taking planetary shots? They would also do nebula too I believe? Would they be a better camera overall than the previous mentioned astro cameras (obviously without being able to guide...)?

Thanks

[Greenman]

I have just got my hands on my first camera this morning, I went for the ASI224 MC. Just fired up and playing in Sharp cam. A bit more costly than the 120C, but it has the capability to do some bright DSO work too (good response in the NIR will be handy there), but it does mean you will need an IR cut off filter for lunar & planets. It too says it can be used as a guider, but when doing that you have only 25% resolution due to the BGGR bayeriing and precision is what you need when guiding. I will try out guiding with this to get my hand in, but go for a 120MM if I want to do it seriously.

Both of these from RVO (Camera & filter) were £261 and delivered in 36 hours. Good luck with whatever you decide on.

[Star Dad]

I am currently using the ASI120MM (Black and White) for guiding. I bought the Celestron NexImage several years ago and what a piece of junk. The camera itself *might* be ok, but the software was horribly buggy. After several attempts to use it - it now resides in my junk pile. I might try using it for all-sky but the ZWO cameras are so much better. I don't know if Celestron has fixed their problems but if you are thinking about it take heed of my warning and see what others think of it.

[ARock]

Another thought on this, given the price range, could it be worth buying a used Canon 500d or 1100d for taking planetary shots? They would also do nebula too I believe? Would they be a better camera overall than the previous mentioned astro cameras (obviously without being able to guide...)?

Thanks

Based on this page you will not achieve focus with a DSLR on the 130P without a Barlow.
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/blog/s ... -130p.html

A Barlow with a DSLR might make balancing hard.

A good way to evaluate cameras (and other AP gear) is to search on astrobin.com to see what kind of pictures pople are taking with it and what equipment they use it with. I see mostly lunar shots with the svbony 305.

If you want to take non planetary images, you might be better off getting a wide field refractor (80mm F/5) for your mount and add a DSLR to it. With the RA motor, you should be able to get 15-20 second shots with good polar alignment.

[astrodroid]

More great advice, thanks a lot. I've been wanting to get more stuff but have only owned the scope a month. All this advice is making me pause and make a more considered decision and enjoy what I do have already, rather than just rushing out to buy gear. And that's a good thing. So thanks all. Love this forum!

[Voyageur]

More great advice, thanks a lot. I've been wanting to get more stuff but have only owned the scope a month. All this advice is making me pause and make a more considered decision and enjoy what I do have already, rather than just rushing out to buy gear. And that's a good thing. So thanks all. Love this forum!

That’s a smart attitude! Yes, spend a little more time before spending more money. A long time ago, in ignorance, I bought an expensive 7 mm Nagler to use with an f/10 SCT. It was not often useful or used. I kept it for years, and finally found it very useful with my much newer f/6 refractor. So it was ultimately a good purchase. But I could have been smarter at the outset.

[astrodroid]

Yes you can make some mistakes on the way when you are learning something new. I have a Galaxy S9 phone and the camera is quite good (Samsung CMOS 7.06mm sensor, ~1/2.55, 1.4 μm, 4032 x 3024 12.2MP Video: 3840 x 2160 @ 60 fps, can take up to 10s exposures in various apps I tried).

I'm looking at dedicated AP cameras, take the ZWO ASI290MC as an example. In some respects, the phone cam is better (smaller pixels, higher resolution). So, and I'm just researching now, so not rushing into anything but what would be the primary reasons to buy a dedicated AP cam. Is it the long exposure times? Anything else to consider?

[Greenman]

Sure the main thing (for me) is the performance in the IR, phone cameras like DSLR’s filter out the response in the IR to improve the colour profile. This is due to the eye being insensitive to IR whereas CCD’s and CMOS’s are sensitive up to 1050/1100 nm before the QE of a silicon detector gives up. The IR is useful in astronomy as a fair amount of light (nebula etc.) originates from hydrogen plasma. This is useful on DSO’s but does mean you need an IR cut filter for planetary and lunar work.

Also on the planetary side it can run video at high speed on bright objects and via stacking get good composite images.

[astrodroid]

Great thanks. So sounds like a worthy investment then. Going to make use of the phone cam and get used to taking images before I fork out for a camera. But I am thinking of the ASI224MC or the ASI290. or possibly the equivalent Altair Astro GPCAM2 or 3.

[ARock]

Yes you can make some mistakes on the way when you are learning something new. I have a Galaxy S9 phone and the camera is quite good (Samsung CMOS 7.06mm sensor, ~1/2.55, 1.4 μm, 4032 x 3024 12.2MP Video: 3840 x 2160 @ 60 fps, can take up to 10s exposures in various apps I tried).

I'm looking at dedicated AP cameras, take the ZWO ASI290MC as an example. In some respects, the phone cam is better (smaller pixels, higher resolution). So, and I'm just researching now, so not rushing into anything but what would be the primary reasons to buy a dedicated AP cam. Is it the long exposure times? Anything else to consider?

Smaller pixels and higher resolutions are usually not better for AP. A larger pixel is better in the dark, where it can catch more light per pixel. Which is why you see Astro cameras with low mega pixels. However for planetary images where there is a lot more light, higher res can help.

An important metric of and AP setup is the image scale or arc sec/pixel. You can calculate it using a site like this.
https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/ (imaging mode tab)
The arc sec/pixel of your setup ties in with the accuracy of the mount tracking and gives you an idea about the exposure/quality of your images. For entry level mounts the larger the arc sec/pixel that you have, the better. Again not as important for planetary due to the shorter exposure times.

While scope and camera are important for AP, by far the most important component is the mount, and the weight it carries. AP thumb rules say it should be around 1/2 the payload a mount can carry for visual (non AP).

Welcome to the rabbit hole that is AP

[astrodroid]

Thanks for that. It's an eq2 mount, so quite lightweight. I think I'm going to focus on honing my skills on lunar and planetary first, before moving onto 'proper' AP as I may well need to upgrade some kit first. Still good to know what direction to head in though, and what I need to learn about. Cheers

[gcisko]

If the scope is a SW130P Starquest EQ2, and it is the one I see when I google it, the cell phone is probably your best bet for now.